Harters

I think that may have been me. I get more forgetful by the day.

That would be a very decent thickness here, including quality steakhouses. Comes in at 350g weight at Hawksmoor near me.

Certainly in travel agent advertising that I've seen. It's partially what prompted us to think about Regent and for me to start this thread.

Yes. We always like to enjoy things more than once if possible

Indeed. We'll have two nights in Miami pre-cruise, so should then be fine. At least, UK to US is better, jetlag-wise, than the reverse. Cruises are significantly expensive holidays for us so, unfortunately, the option of other than economy seating is beyond our means.

In the UK, veal had a very bad reputation for many years, on ethical grounds. That was, primarily due to "crates" in which calves were kept (banned in the UK in 1992 and the European Union in 2006) That has changed in recent times with "rose veal" being raised as a premium product and now represents almost all of the veal on the British market. Instead of male dairy calves being culled at birth, many are now raised for veal, fed on milk and a natural plant diet. They can be no more than 8 months old at slaughter.

Absolutely. There's a "tries too hard" style of restaurant cooking that over complicates the dish, often putting on an extraneous ingredient that you'd either prefer not to eat or one that just detracts from the "main event". I have in mind a place we went to last October. Perfectly cooked chicken breast, with a rarebit topping; spinach, courgette and dauphinoise potato on the plate. And, also, the weird decision to add an Indian spiced bhaji. Now, it was a very nice bhaji but it was just wrong here, with the Asian spices almost overwhelming what was otherwise a very North European dish. .

UK only, I'm afraid. Google found the list for me so maybe there's something similar out there for the US.

Worth a look at Tripadvisor's cruise forum which has no problems about names being named. I did that cross-check after I'd come across Cruise Critic's own list of recommended UK travel agents.

I love IHOP. I wish we had a chain like that in the UK My late parents in law used to visit Florida annually for many years. Then one year they went with one of his daughters and her family, who had been to the state before. One morning, she suggested breakfast at IHOP. FiL objected - he'd never been because he assumed it was a Chinese place.

Probably not. But I'm sure we're on the same page about which company we're referring to. My partner had the phone call with them and I'm sure that there was mention of a "best price guarantee", so we will be in a good position to negotiate. Thanks for the help, V.

Yes, very possibly. I usually like American chain restaurants - they can be a different "foreign" experience. I'd hazard a guess that most British tourists to the States visit Florida and New York City. And certainly family members who visit Florida rave about the chains for their value for money. I'm not most British tourists though having spent holiday time in every East Coast state (except Delaware) and several more not directly on the coast. That's over the last four decades. The internet has made it much easier to find those great little restaurants that the locals love - in early trips, you really only knew about the places you could see from the hotel or had passed driving into town. I've no idea what fellow Europeans may think of as classic American food but my bet is that it won't be much different than fellow Britons. And that's probably conditioned by what we see on TV or film. Which, probably, won't generally take into account regional differences - great seafood in New England; great BBQ in the Carolinas, for example. Here's the sort of "small town France" menu I had in mind. The Basilique is a favourite restaurant when I'm visiting the small town of Albert in Northern France. http://ciavmqx.cluster027.hosting.ovh.net/menu/Menu.pdf

Am I reading this correctly? You've booked on board, at a discount from website price (plus whatever perks are offered). You transfer that to your TA and can negotiate a further approx 10% discount on your already discounted price? Sorry if I'm being slow on the uptake here but I've no experience in how this works, moving business placed with one company to another one. You wouldnt think I had years of professional procurement experience. 😀

Our view about Jacques (Marina in 2018) was that it was more the sort of menu a tourist expects to find in a touristy French restaurant, rather than the food you'd find in a good restaurant in a small French town. That's not to denigrate it as such, but I won't miss there being no Jacques on Vista and, instead, am really looking forward to trying a new experience at Ember.

We have sailed on the smaller Nautica and the larger Marina (and are due to sail on Vista). We enjoyed Nautica but prefer the greater feeling of space and the extra speciality restaurants of the larger ship. The mega cruise ships don't appeal to us.

I've never been to Vegas and probably never will now. My partner has but was travelling with a very non-foody family member so never got to try the good places.

We've just been doing that with a few on Cruise Critic's own list of recommended TAs. The variation in quotes is quite surprising from over 10% discount to next to nothing off O's list price. And with a couple throwing in the upgraded drinks package (not a big thing for us, as I don't drink and my partner only sparingly) and others offering chauffeur driven car service from/to home and Southampton. Still, it's all going to give us an idea of cost that we can check out against on onboard price.

Interesting. In British English it usually signifies quick movement, so I read your "whoosh" as meaning folk should quickly get to the restaurant recommended by clo.

Thanks for the confirmation, V. We will, probably, change TA (to the one you hinted at some time back) as they do seem to be offering a better deal than our existing.

Vallesan (and/or any other Britons) - knowing that the British travel agency industry works differently from that in the States, can you confirm that it would be as simple for us, as it is for Americans, to transfer an onboard reservation to our preferred TA here?

Ah, right. 🙂

True - but this would be our third attempt to do this particular cruise. Covid interrupted one (we caught it the week we were due to board, so couldnt get the negative test required at the time). Then we couldnt go ahead with the second attempt as medical issues prevented us from getting travel insurance. Maybe third time lucky. Or not.

The resort has come in at a total of about £5000, whereas the cruise was about £10,000. With that sort of difference, I'll need a lot of convincing that being transported round the Bay of Biscay is worth the other five grand. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks to all. Lots of helpful comments.

Assuming you are docking at Zeebrugge, then the Coastal Tram passes through several small towns on its way to the border with France. Excellent way to get about without a car. https://www.delijn.be/en/content/kusttram/ A couple of contributors have mentioned Ypres (now Ieper) in connection with the Great War. I'm an amateur military historian (and author) specialising in the conflict and know the area well. You either need to do a lot of research to put together your own tour or pay for a guide. My fellow enthusiast, Ken Lees, moved to live in the battlefield area when he retired as a police officer. He offers guided tours for small groups. I can only speak for his enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject and have no connection with his business. https://www.explore1914-18.com/index.html